NorthwestDigest

JUNEAU - A 35-year-old Juneau resident was arrested for domestic violence assault at 7:44 a.m. Sunday after stabbing a 31-year-old man in the upper body during a dispute in a Lemon Creek trailer.

The man was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital for treatment and the blow was not considered life-threatening.

The woman was taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center and charged with a Class B felony.

Federal Subsistence Board names chair

FAIRBANKS - The chairman of the state Board of Game has resigned to serve as chairman of the Federal Subsistence Board.

Mike Fleagle, 47, served on the Game Board for 10 years. The board sets hunting seasons and bag limits.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, who is scheduled to visit Alaska this week, announced the federal appointment Friday.

Fleagle replaces former chairman and Nenana Native leader Mitch Dementieff, who served as chairman of the federal board for 11 years. He was removed in July by Kempthorne.

Fleagle was appointed to the Game Board by two governors. He was appointed to the board by former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, in 1996 and again in 1999 before resigning in January 2002. Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, appointed Fleagle to the board when he took office in December 2002.

A strong advocate of predator control and subsistence, Fleagle helped launch the state's first aerial wolf control program in more than a decade while chairing the board.

Missing orca calf spotted on Sunday

SEATTLE - A baby orca that went missing from the Northwest's struggling killer-whale population turned up Sunday, triggering cheers and family photos at the Whale Research Center in the San Juan Islands.

"The lost was found," said Ken Balcomb, veteran orca researcher at the Friday Harbor center. "It wasn't with its mom that day," he added of reports last week that the calf was missing and perhaps dead.

The state's three resident orca pods- dubbed J, K and L - were declared an endangered species last year, and disappearance of the newborn that had boosted the population to 90 for the first time this century was painful news.

The calf - whose orange newborn coat made it stand out among its black-and-white family - was first spotted Aug. 13 in Haro Strait, on the west side of the San Juans, where the orcas congregate over the summer to chase salmon.

But then it was not seen for days.

"J, K and L pods have been pretty much together this (past) week when they've been seen," Balcomb said. "He didn't show up with any other pod."

There were a couple possible sightings, but no documentation until Sunday.

"He's an adventurous little guy," an exuberant Balcomb said. "But he was there today, nice and tight" with the other orcas.

Meth talk doesn't help solve killings

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. - Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart says he "about threw up" when he read a People magazine story speculating that the deaths of two Seattle women on a popular hiking trial were connected to methamphetamine.

"My first thought was I wish it were that easy," Bart said.

The killings of Mary Cooper, 56, and her daughter, Susanna Stodden, 27, continue to mystify detectives. The crimes also have renewed unwelcome attention for Granite Falls. It's a place, residents say, where a willingness to confront meth use has morphed into the widespread belief that the community is awash in the drug.

People magazine reported: Granite Falls has "so many drug problems it's been called Methville."

Granite Falls has never led the county, or the region, as a significant center for meth production and trafficking, said Lt. John Flood, of the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force.

"It's unfortunate that they've been given an inaccurate label at a national level," he said.

Drug use in Granite Falls has been on the national media's radar since January 2003, when Rolling Stone magazine published a feature article about meth and its effects on small communities.